The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom NEWS BRIEFS WASHINGTON Second Republican senator opposes Bush Iraq plan A second Republican joined Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, and signed onto a Sen- ate resolution yesterday oppos- ing President Bush's 21,500-troop buildup in Iraq, setting a marker for a major clash between the White House and Congress over the unpopular war. Sen. Olympia Snowe, a moderate from Maine, said she would support a nonbinding resolution that would put the Senate on record as saying the U.S. commitment in Iraq can be sustained only with support from the American public and Congress. Snowe's decision to join the effort came as the White House and GOP leaders struggled to keep Republicans from endorsing the resolution, and raised questions about how many more defections there might be. DAKAR, Senegal Congolese guerrillas kill, eat giant gorilla Rebels in eastern Congo have killed and eaten two silverback mountain gorillas, conservation- ists said yesterday, warning they fear more of the endangered ani- mals may have been slaughtered in the lawless region. Only about 700 mountain goril- lasremain intheworld, 380 of them spread across a range of volcanic mountains straddling the borders of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda in Central Africa. The London-based Africa Con- servation Fund blamed rebels loyal to a local warlord, Laurent Nkunda, for the latestkilling. Nkundais a ren- egade soldier who commands thou- sands offightersinthevastcountry's east who have in recent years assaulted cities and clashed sporadi- cally with government forces. LONDON World ticks two HEAVY ON THE ICE \/\ Thursday, January 18, 2007 - 3A Defense chief: Afghan war needs more troops, too Gates says U.S. should be wary of letting success 'slip away' BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghani- - A stan (AP) - Defense Secretary Rob- ert Gates suggested yesterday that he is likely to urge President Bush to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight the resurgent Taliban. Gates said U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have recommended ROB MIGRIs/Da" an unspecified troop boost, and A student changes his course to avoid a fallen tree covering the sidewalk on Huron while he did not explicitly endorse Street. The tree was one of the many around campus that collapsed under the weight thie he d d a rtioale. of Sunday's ice storm. the idea, he offered a rationale. "I think it is important that we not let this success here in Afghani- 1tstan slip away from us and that we p an el W C keep the initiative," he told report- erstraveling aboard his aircraft as it *ed es i- refueled here for a flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he was to meet *1-' with King Abdullah. "There's no WASHINGTON (AP)- TheBush the approval of the Foreign Intel- reason to sit back and let the Tal- administration changed course and ligence Surveillance Court." iban regroup," Gates said. agreed yesterday to let a secret Gonzales said Bush would not There are approximately 24,000 but independent panel of federal reauthorize the program once it U.S. troops here, of which about judges oversee the government's expires. Justice Department offi- 11,000 serve under NATO com- controversial domestic spying pro- cials later said authorization for one mand. Another increase would Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the potential 2008 presi- dentialcandidatewhojustreturned from a trip to the region, said com- manders in Afghanistan told her they have "an urgent need" for about 2,300 more troops, including some who mightbe held in reserve. "It would be tragic if we fail in Afghanistan because of an unwill- ingness to deploy a manageable size of additional troops to aid an important and willing ally during a time of true need," she wrote in a letter to Gates. The letter was also signed by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), who was also on the trip. As described by U.S. military officers in Afghanistan, the Taliban already have regrouped, at least to the extent that they were able last year to launch vastly more attacks on U.S. and allied forces than in 2005. They have been particularly resurgent in the south and the east, along the Pakistan border. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said new troop commitments would further strain the U.S. military in the short run. But if done as partof a success- ful strategy against the Taliban, it might hasten the day when the U.S. military can withdraw its combat forces altogether, he said. A U.S. troop increase in Afghani- stan would come on top of Bush's decision to send another 21,500 soldiers and Marines to Iraq over the coming four months. The two wars, each now longer than U.S. involvement in World War II, have stretched American land forces so thin that the Army and Marines are requesting tens of billions more in funding and have persuaded Bush to ask Congress to increase their size. On Tuesday, Gates said before he arrived in Afghanistan for talks with U.S. and NATO commanders - as well as Afghan government officials - that he wanted to hear their views on what should be done to arrest the resurgence of the Tal- iban and provide the security need- ed to reconstruct the country. U.S. forces invaded Afghani- stan to topple the Taliban regime in October 2001. No longer a sanctuary for terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan has struggled to build a national government, attract international investment and rid the country of Taliban extremists who want to regain power. "Ifthe people who are leadingthe struggle out here believe that there is a need for some additional help to sustain the success that we've had, I'm going to be very sympathetic to that kind of a request," Gates said. gram. Officials say the secret court has already approved at least one request for monitoring. The shift will likely end a court fight over whether the warrantless surveillance program was legal. The program, which was secretly authorizedby President Bush shortly after the Sept.11, 2001, terror attacks, was disclosed a little over a year ago, resulting in widespread criticism from lawmakers and civil libertar- ians who questioned its legality. The program allowed the National Security Agency - with- out approval from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court - to monitor phone calls and e-mails between the United States and other countries when a link to terrorism is suspected. In a letter to senators yesterday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that "any electronic surveil- lance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to investigation under the warrantless program was set to expire soon, but they would not specify when. Justice Department officials say the court already has approved at least one warrant to conduct sur- veillance involving a person sus- pected of having ties to al-Qaida or an associated terror group. After it was revealed in 2005, the administrationvigorouslydefended the program as essential to national security. Although the secret court was established precisely to review requests for domestic surveil- lance warrants, the White House insisted that such oversight was not required by law and would slow efforts to stop terrorists. From the start, Bush maintained the warrantless program's exis- tence was "fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities," and said he would con- tinue to reauthorize it "for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaida and related groups." raise questions about the future course of a war which the United States is increasingly handing off to NATO forces. The Un IVerSityofe oi UChigna e s Do You Have Crhns Dseseor COaV Cii? If so, we need Your help. Many students on and off campus manage a full time student life and their Crohn's / Colitis. We need STUDENTS to share their experiences and ideas, as well as to en- gage even more STUDENTS. Be a part of someone's life or make a difference in your own on December 7th at the first group meeting. Organized by Dr. Ellen Zimmerman, 4 ) Director of the University of Michigan's IBD Program Date: TODAY January 18th Time: 7-9 P.M. Location: MASON HALL RM 3401 Let us know you are coming (&any questions): Email Alex: aaubrey@umich.edu Or Just Show Up! minutes closer to Northwest apologizes to apocalypse The world has nudged closer to a nuclear apocalypse and envi- ronmental disaster, a trans-Atlan- tic group of prominent scientists warnedyesterday, pushingthehand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight. It was the fourth time since the end of the Cold War that the clock has ticked forward, this time from 11:53 to 11:55, amid fears over what the scientists are describing as "a second nuclear age" prompted largely by atomic standoffs with Iran and North Korea. But the organization added that the "dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons." MOGADISHU, Somalia Islamic Courts ally deposed from Somali parliament The Somali parliament stripped the speaker position yesterday from a top lawmaker who was closely associated with the recently oust- ed Islamic movement, a move the European Union said was disap- pointing and could hurt reconcilia- tion efforts in the restive country. Diplomats said the fired speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, was capable of pulling together moder- ate elements in Somalia's Islamic movement. Deputy Speaker Osman Ilmi Boqore announced the move against Aden in proceedings on the radio. Lawmakers cited his public criti- cism of a proposed African peace- keeping mission that parliament had endorsed and his meetings with Islamic movement leaders without authority from parliament. - Compiled from Daily wire reports 71 Number of federal employees working in the Executive Office of the President who failed to pay their federal income taxes for the 2005 tax year, according to docu- ments obtained by WTOP radio in Washington D.C. About 20 of those employees have entered IRS payment plans. Muslims barred from flight Free Food will be Provided for All!!! DETROIT (AP) - Seeking to quell an uproar over alleged pro- filing, Northwest Airlines offered an apology yesterday to a group of 40 American Muslims who were barred from boarding a Michigan- bound plane in Germany. The airline also said it will reim- burse the pilgrims for hotel costs and other flights the passengers were forced to take on their way back from the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Andrea Newman, a University Regent and the senior vice presi- dent for government relations for Northwest, said barring the pil- grims should not have happened. She said the Jan. 7 incident resulted from a series of mistakes involving a German travel agen- cy, the baggage handlers for the previous chartered flight from Saudi Arabia and misleading information on a printed ticket that the passengers had received, The Detroit News reported yes- terday. Get the Gift You Really Wanted. university unions- almost as good as -<1 [you can live in our basement.] M University r